NEW YORK, Oct 1 Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank by market value, said on Monday it expec

NEW YORK, Oct 1 (Reuters) Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank by market value, said on Monday it expects to report a decline of about 60 percent in third-quarter net income, a result its chief executive called ''a clear disappointment.'' CEO Charles Prince said in a statement the decline had been driven ''by weak performance in fixed-income credit market activities, write-downs in leveraged loan commitments, and increases in consumer credit costs.'' Among the principal culprits for the warning were $1.4 billion in pre-tax write-downs on funded and unfunded leveraged loan commitments.

Citi also said it was taking $1.3 billion in pretax losses on the value of subprime mortgage-backed securities it had warehoused to repackage into collateralized debt obligations, and leveraged loans it had planned to repackage into collateralized loan obligation securitizations.

The profit warning came on the same day that Swiss bank UBS AG, the world's largest wealth manager, unveiled $3.4 billion in losses, swept out senior managers and slashed jobs.

REUTERS SR RN1733